A bicycle may remain in a family for thirty years, while a five-year-old electronic device ends up forgotten in a drawer. A wooden table with scratches may continue to be used every day, while an almost undamaged appliance is replaced because one small component has failed. Such cases make a simple question surprisingly difficult: how long does an object actually last? One possible answer is to examine the materials from which objects are made. Wood, metal, glass, fabric, and plastic respond differently to time and use. Some materials resist pressure, heat, or repeated movement better than others, and good construction can prevent early failure. For this reason, durability is often associated with physical strength. Yet the condition of the materials does not always explain why an object remains in use—or why it disappears. Consider an electric fan that stops working because of a damaged switch. The motor, blades, and body may still be in good condition. If the switch is inexpensive and can be replaced with ordinary tools, the fan may return to service quickly. But suppose the manufacturer used a switch designed only for that model and later stopped producing it. A repair shop might still be able to fix the fan, but doing so could require locating a used component or modifying another part. The fan has not become physically useless, yet keeping it in use has become more difficult. The owner's decision will also depend on available alternatives. If a new fan is expensive, searching for a replacement part may seem reasonable. If new models are inexpensive, the same repair may appear less attractive. Time matters as well. Someone who needs the fan immediately may replace it rather than wait for a component to arrive. Another person, who has access to spare parts or enjoys repairing things, might make the opposite decision. The same damaged object can therefore have several possible futures. Electronic products make such choices more complicated because they depend on systems outside the objects themselves. A tablet may have an undamaged screen, a working battery, and enough storage for its owner's needs. Nevertheless, an application used for work may eventually require a newer operating system. If the tablet cannot install that system, the application may stop working. Nothing comparable to a broken switch has occurred. The device can still perform many operations, but an important connection between it and its technological environment has disappeared. Objects often depend on other objects, services, or infrastructures in similar ways. A perfectly good charger becomes less useful when devices that accept its connector disappear. A storage device may contain readable information but require equipment that few people still own. Even a key that has changed very little over decades becomes useless for its original purpose when the lock is replaced. Examining physical condition alone reveals only part of what has happened. Technological change, however, does not automatically remove older objects from use. People do not all need the same functions. A computer that is inadequate for professional video editing might still be suitable for writing documents. A basic phone may be undesirable to someone who uses demanding applications but useful to someone who mainly makes calls. When an object passes from one user to another, its physical properties remain largely unchanged, while judgments about its usefulness may change considerably. This helps explain why second-hand markets, donations, and exchanges can extend the time products remain in circulation. A student may replace a small desk after moving to a home with a larger workspace, while someone living in a small apartment may find the same desk ideal. The desk has reached the end of one period of use, but not necessarily the end of every possible use. Sometimes continued use requires a larger change. Glass food containers become storage jars, worn clothes become cleaning cloths, and pieces of old furniture provide material for new objects. In such cases, whether the original product can still perform its first function may no longer matter. Some of its properties—its material, shape, strength, or appearance—remain valuable in another context. Not every object, however, is judged mainly by practical usefulness. Imagine two watches requiring the same costly repair. One is an ordinary watch purchased several years ago. The other belonged to a family member and has been passed from one generation to another. A person might replace the first and repair the second, even if a new watch would perform the same practical function. The difference does not lie in their mechanical condition but in what each object represents to its owner. Economic judgments can change as well. Some older objects become desirable because of their design, rarity, or craftsmanship. Others lose value while remaining functional. As these judgments change, activities that once seemed unreasonable—repairing a damaged chair or searching for an unusual component—may become worthwhile. The effort invested in keeping something can depend not only on what it does but also on what people believe is worth preserving. These examples complicate attempts to make products last longer. Stronger materials can reduce physical damage but cannot ensure that replacement parts remain available. Components designed for easy removal can simplify repair but do not guarantee that repair will be affordable. Long-term software support may keep an electronic device compatible with newer services, yet its owner may still develop different needs. No single feature determines what eventually happens. Physical durability nevertheless remains important. A product that breaks easily has fewer opportunities to be repaired, passed to another user, or transformed for another purpose. Material strength creates possibilities for a longer life, but what happens to those possibilities depends on conditions that develop over time. Some are established by manufacturers and technological systems; others arise from markets and users. Two identical objects manufactured on the same day can therefore follow very different paths. One may be discarded after a minor failure because repair is inconvenient. The other may be repaired several times, sold to another person, and eventually transformed for a different purpose. Their materials may have had similar capacities to survive, but their histories are shaped by more than those materials. Asking how long an object lasts, then, involves more than predicting when it will break. It also involves whether repairs remain possible, whether necessary parts and systems still exist, whether continued use makes sense in a particular situation, and whether someone finds value in preserving or transforming the object. Long before its materials finally fail, changing circumstances may determine whether it continues in use, takes on a different role, or is replaced. # Reading Comprehension Test ### Instructions Read the text carefully. For each question, select the option that is **best supported by the text**. Choose only one answer for each question. **1. Which statement best expresses the distinction introduced by the examples at the beginning of the text?** A. Objects made from traditional materials tend to remain useful longer than electronic products. B. The length of time an object remains in use cannot always be predicted from its physical condition. C. Objects tend to last longer when several people use them over time. D. Physical damage provides the most useful indication that an object is approaching the end of its useful life. **2. In the discussion of the electric fan, what is the main function of the unavailable switch?** A. It illustrates how the failure of a small part can make continued use difficult even when most of an object remains functional. B. It illustrates why manufacturers may find it difficult to produce replacement parts for older products. C. It shows how the cost of repair can depend mainly on the physical size of the damaged component. D. It provides an example of a product whose overall construction was not strong enough for long-term use. **3. Suppose two people own identical coffee machines with the same minor problem. Replacement parts are available, but delivery takes ten days. One owner needs the machine immediately and buys a new one; the other waits and repairs the old machine. Which idea from the text does this situation best illustrate?** A. Products with replaceable components are more likely to remain in use regardless of users' circumstances. B. A product's future can depend on a user's circumstances even when repair is technically possible. C. The availability of a replacement part is less important than the original quality of a product. D. Identical products can develop different levels of physical durability because owners use them differently. **4. What does the example of the tablet suggest about an object becoming less useful?** A. Physical deterioration can make a device incompatible with the systems that originally supported it. B. Electronic devices can retain their usefulness if their main physical components remain undamaged. C. Usefulness can decrease because the surrounding system changes even when the object itself still works. D. A device generally becomes obsolete when repairing it requires changes to its operating system. **5. A restaurant replaces a set of small tables because its new service model requires larger ones. The old tables are still stable and are purchased by a café where their size is appropriate. Which principle from the text best explains what happened?** A. Physical durability becomes more important when an object moves from a commercial setting to a different one. B. An object that no longer meets one user's requirements may remain useful under a different set of requirements. C. Transferring an object to a new user can restore physical qualities that had become inadequate for its original owner. D. An object can remain useful when a new user gives it a function different from the one for which it was designed. **6. A public library wants to keep a group of older computers in service. The computers still work and can run the programs visitors currently need. Before deciding whether to keep them, which additional question would be most important according to the reasoning developed in the text?** A. Whether visitors consider the computers' appearance appropriate for a modern library. B. Whether the computers were originally built from materials designed for intensive professional use. C. Whether another organization would be willing to purchase the computers if the library replaced them. D. Whether the software, connections, and other support the computers depend on are likely to remain available. **7. How do the examples of the fan and the tablet differ in explaining why continued use may become difficult?** A. The fan illustrates a limitation involving repair resources, while the tablet illustrates a limitation involving compatibility with an external system. B. The fan illustrates a change in the owner's requirements, while the tablet illustrates deterioration of physical components. C. The fan emphasizes the original quality of a product, while the tablet emphasizes changes in its market value. D. The fan concerns a product that has lost its function completely, while the tablet concerns one that has acquired a more limited function. **8. A company designs a printer whose components are easy to remove and replace. Several years later, however, compatible replacement components become extremely expensive. How would the text most likely account for this situation?** A. The printer remains effectively repairable because its design allows individual components to be removed. B. The increase in maintenance cost indicates that the printer has become physically less durable over time. C. Easy component removal creates an opportunity for repair, but economic conditions can still make replacement more attractive. D. The printer has reached the end of its useful life because repair depends on factors outside its physical construction. **9. What can reasonably be inferred from the discussion of second-hand objects and objects given new functions?** A. An object's continued usefulness generally depends on finding someone who values its original purpose. B. Reuse becomes relevant mainly after an object can no longer perform the function for which it was designed. C. The end of one form of use does not necessarily mean that an object has no remaining usefulness. D. Giving an object a new function provides a more reliable way of extending its life than transferring it to another user. **10. What does the example of the two watches add to the argument developed in the preceding paragraphs?** A. It shows that objects kept for personal reasons usually require more expensive repairs than objects kept for practical reasons. B. It qualifies the earlier discussion by showing that an object's original function may become more important as the object ages. C. It introduces the idea that objects with similar practical problems can be treated differently because one carries symbolic value for its owner. D. It shifts the argument from conditions affecting continued use to the question of whether older objects have greater economic value. **11. Which interpretation is best supported when the examples of the desk, the watches, and older objects valued for craftsmanship are considered together?** A. Objects are most likely to remain in use when their market value increases enough to justify repair. B. Judgments about whether an object should be kept can change without a corresponding change in its physical condition. C. Older objects tend to remain useful when they move from owners with demanding requirements to owners with simpler ones. D. Practical usefulness becomes less influential as an object's personal or economic value increases. **12. What broader implication follows from the author's discussion of efforts to make products last longer?** A. Physical construction matters mainly when repair services and replacement components are difficult to obtain. B. Extending product life may require attention to conditions beyond the physical design of the product itself. C. Manufacturers can extend product life most effectively by controlling the systems on which their products depend. D. Designing products for repair is likely to keep them in use if their main materials remain physically sound. **13. Which interpretation best accounts for the statement that two identical objects manufactured on the same day may “follow very different paths”?** A. Similar products can develop different physical qualities because conditions of use gradually change their materials. B. The importance of material durability decreases once products begin moving between different owners. C. Similar physical potential can lead to different outcomes because later conditions influence whether an object is repaired, transferred, transformed, or replaced. D. External circumstances make an object's original design a poor basis for understanding how long it can remain useful. **14. A manufacturer wants to increase the likelihood that a household appliance will remain useful for many years. Which plan is best supported by the text as a whole?** A. Use durable materials and standardized components, while assuming that owners will repair the appliance whenever doing so remains technically possible. B. Use durable materials and make components replaceable, while keeping the product inexpensive enough for owners to choose between repair and replacement. C. Make components easy to replace and guarantee long-term technical support, while giving less priority to material durability because damaged parts can be exchanged. D. Combine durable construction and replaceable components with long-term access to parts and support, recognizing that changing costs and user needs can still affect how long the appliance remains in use. **15. Which conclusion provides the most appropriate limitation on the claim that stronger materials make products last longer?** A. Stronger materials can extend physical survival, but other conditions may prevent that physical potential from becoming continued use. B. Stronger materials contribute to useful life mainly when an object continues to perform its original function. C. Stronger materials become less important once repair and technological compatibility are taken into account. D. Stronger materials provide the basis for long product life when users consider repair economically worthwhile. [[Respuestas del examen de comprensión - Inglés]]